1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method of error analysis and diagnosis in electronic data processing systems, and in particular to the generation of an address or reference code, by means of which a list of the various types of errors, their locations encountered in the electronic data processing system, and where they are stored as a function of error symptoms, can be searched for the probable error and its location.
2. Prior Art
When system errors are automatically analyzed, it is scarcely possible for economical reasons to obtain an absolute reliability. However, at reasonable expenditure it will be in the region of 90%. The remainder, i.e., those errors that cannot be automatically analyzed, is generally diagnosed by experts with the aid of the error symptoms supplied by the error circuits and by means of special test methods.
The analysis data collected during the non-automatic error analysis are included, wherever possible, in the programs for automatic analysis, in order to improve their reliability and efficiency.
The source data required for the automatic analysis of system errors are generally the result of parity or compare checks during which a number of single information bits or signals is combined in the form of a check group of bytes or blocks. As the single information is associated with particular parts of the information processing system, a detailed diagnosis of the defective single information and its error polarity permits accurately determining the error location. The single information which is derived from the various parts of the electronic data processing system by means of the aforementioned check circuits and sensors, can be combined in the form of error image chains. The error images generally consist of several error bytes, which in their turn are made up of several error bits. The error images and error bytes may be structured, although not necessarily so, in such a manner that they provide information on the error situation of a particular part of the system.
Error diagnosis on the basis of the error images is generally accomplished with the aid of an error file in which error type and error location are associated with error images, which somewhat represent the error symptoms of a system. It is also possible to store in the file specific error information, for example, on how an error can best be eliminated.
The error files are generally compiled by the development engineers in the time between development and completion of an electronic data processing system. Errors which could not be taken into consideration or were not anticipated at that stage, but which may be encountered by the customer after he has put the system into operation, cannot subsequently be remedied because of the inflexibility of such error analysis or diagnostic systems. Although it is desirable to gaplessly analyze and diagnose errors throughout the life of an electronic data processing system, known error analysis and diagnostic systems have the disadvantage that they cannot be easily and readily updated.